This application relates to a protective cover, also known as a nursing cover, garment protector, and/or a wear, primarily for an adult and, more particularly, to a protective cover for a caregiver of a baby for use when nursing, burping, holding, bathing, and other like uses when caring for a baby.
Feeding, burping, and holding a baby accounts for a significant amount of the time spent caring for a baby. The prior art lacks a versatile protective cover (“cover”) that provides adequate coverage of chest, shoulders, upper arms, and upper back of a caregiver:                to protect the caregiver's clothes from becoming soiled while caring for a baby when burping, holding, bathing, or otherwise performing activities common to caring for a baby; and/or        to provide adequate coverage for a nursing mother to maintain privacy while nursing (breastfeeding) without fully covering baby; and/or        to provide comfortable surface for baby while eating, burping, teething, being carried, or the like.        
Babies are either nursed or given a bottle. When a mother nurses a baby she may expose a portion of her upper torso, which may make her uncomfortable if she is in a public area. Even if nursing from the top down, she may expose a portion of her breast or nipple area. Conventional solutions may be the use of a towel, blanket, or cloth, which is often bulky, uncomfortable, unsafe, and/or difficult to use. These types of materials when covering a baby may increase the body temperature of the mother and the baby, causing an uncomfortable and possibly unsafe breastfeeding experience. In addition, most conventional covers are difficult to use as they may fall off during use, thereby exposing the mother. A nursing mother needs to obtain adequate coverage via a protective cover she can wear while nursing her baby.
It is equally important for a caregiver to obtain adequate coverage to protect his clothes when burping a baby. Often a towel, blanket, or cloth is draped over the caregiver's shoulder to provide protection from regurgitation of fluids onto the caregiver's clothes. These materials are equally ineffective to use for protecting a caregiver's clothes when burping a baby as they are when nursing a baby due to being bulky, uncomfortable, and/or difficult to use. Because the items do not fasten around the caregiver's neck generally the towel, blanket, or cloth will fall off of the caregiver's shoulder while the caregiver is feeding the baby. Then, if the baby suddenly starts to gag or needs to burp, the caregiver must immediately put the baby on one of the caregiver's shoulders thereby exposing the caregiver's clothes to soiling because the caregiver did not have time to adequately place the towel, blanket, or cloth on his shoulder.
Even if the caregiver was able to place the towel, blanket, or cloth on his shoulder, frequently the item is not of sufficient size to provide adequate protection of the caregiver's chest, shoulders, upper arms, and upper back; or the item is too large and cumbersome to use. The caregiver also may want to alternate shoulders during the burping process and not constantly switch the towel or cloth to the other shoulder. Or the caregiver may want to allow the baby to rest in the chest area while burping. In any event the caregiver needs to obtain adequate coverage no matter where the baby is burped via the use of a protective cover the caregiver can wear.
All prior art designs have shortcomings in providing adequate coverage of chest, shoulders, upper arms, and upper back of a caregiver to protect the caregiver's clothes from becoming soiled during the care of the baby; and/or providing adequate coverage and privacy for a mother while nursing without fully covering the baby; and/or providing a comfortable surface for the baby while eating, burping, teething, being carried, or the like.